Road Trip Boredom Bags | Trying to be Crafty Mama

As I was blog reading in the past month I came across a cute idea to make boredom bags when road tripping with your young children.  We're heading 'up north' this week and although my kids travel fine (as long as that movie is playing), I wanted to try something different.  I'd love to get away from them watching a movie the entire way up in the car.  Mostly for my own sake cause I get sick of hearing the same dialog on and on.

So I'm trying something different.  I made up these bags, each boy will get to open 1 for every hour we are in the car.  Our trip is only 4 hours long so I could easy make up 8 bags with stuff from around the house.  Each bag has an activity (or 2) and a treat.

Here they are all organized and ready to load in the car using my 31 Bag - Organizing Utility Tote.  I will put extra supplies in the side pockets.  I'll be using quite a few 31 bags for my upcoming trip, they make organizing a breeze.

 

 

First Hour: Tic Tacs, Crayola tongue dyeing taffy, notepad, new box of crayons and stickers. 
2nd Hour: Road Trip Bingo, Monsters 'mouth' sucker, and pipe cleaners. 
3rd Hour: Star Wars activity book, another crayola taffy, stickers, and DIY Cheerio necklaces. 
4th Hour, Pipe Cleaners again, dry erase board (new to them), stickers and another Crayola taffy. 

I don't expect these to keep them busy the entire time we are in the car, but perhaps we could *gasp* talk in between. 

My thoughts on the 24 Day Challenge

Well unfortunately my thoughts were just ho hum.  The challenge did get me to step back and evaluate what I was eating and clean up a few things.  Like really being strick on whites (white flour, white rice, white potatoes, and things like instand oatmeal, instant rice etc).  I also realized I can go without sweets if I choose to.  Giving up dairy was a huge struggle but even that I could do.

What I didn't like was all the pills and supplements.  I am just NOT a pill person.  I also didn't really get much benefit in the "Max" phase as I heard so many other people did.  Compared to the "cleanse" phase where I was feeling lighter and different and also seeing a change in my hips, waist and on the scale.

So all in all, I'd probably do the Cleanse Phase again, for only $30 I found it worth the money, the whole 24 day challenge (including the cleanse phase) was $190 (+ any added supplements you buy, like I bought the carb ease).  I don't think I'll be repeating this 'diet' I just do not like taking all those pills.  Eating healthier I hope to keep up with and perhaps repeating the cleanse every couple months would be good.

Day 16-21 | 24 day Challenge

Well today is day 21 and I'm still trucking along, I won't lie and say I miss carbs, chocolate, and dairy, I miss them terribly.  Although cutting carbs isn't necessarily part of this diet, I definitely changed the carbs I am eating.  I'm pretty much 100% rid of white carbs like white rice, white flour, white potatoes.  Its hard, I REALLY like white potatoes, but I can SEE a difference in my waist line, its visible.

Today was the last weigh in of my 'dietbet'.  and I'm happy to say I made it!!  It was super hard to lose more than 1lb / week, I had to lose a total of 6.2 lbs and total I lost 6.4 lbs.

 

For accountability we used a word of the day, first person awake this morning picked it.  I started the diet bet a week before I started Advocare though, so I still have 3 more advocare days before I can officially celebrate and eat something extra yummy.

 

So this week I went down from 151 - 148.6 which is 2.4 lbs, its awesome, I was really worried about making my mark this week but I stepped up exercising to get there.  Every night this week I did something, one night it was Turbo Fire, another night I did the elliptical, then one day I ran 1 mile (it was 96 deg outside I couldn't go further) then came home and did the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred.  Last night I swam some laps at the pool.

 

Anyway, I hope to stay on this trend and keep going down (although I would be fine if my progress was slower, I want to enjoy eating more lol).  My current weight goal is a healthy 140 lbs, but I am not expecting to be there anytime soon, maybe by thanksgiving?  we'll see.

Day 15 | 24 Day Challenge

Well its Day 15, and weigh in Friday.  Kinda bummed because I lost ZERO pounds, but I do have to look back at the week and honestly I slacked a little on my exercise.  Although I ran on travel that's the only time I ran, today I did a pretty slow walk (2.5 miles) because I talked to coworkers during the walk.

I also did okay but not excellent on my food choices while on travel.  Although I had no fried food, and I also had salads without dressings.  I also got a Cheese Board one night with 4 scrumptious cheeses on it, that I almost polished off by myself.

I'm totally going to step it up because I still have 2.2 lbs to lose for my Diet Bet which ends next Friday.  I can do it!!!

As promised here is an image of all the supplements for the "max" phase of the 24 day challenge.  These are the basic ones plus 1 add-on, the Carb-Ease.  I put the "spark" in for the picture but I almost never take it.

Days 11-14 | 24 Day Challenge

Still here trucking along.  The 2nd part of the 24 day challenge is the "Max" phase, this is where I should see more weight loss.   It really isn't much of a change from the first phase as far as foods.  I still eat 5 meals such as:

Breakfast (Meal Replacement Shake)
Morning Snack - Fruit / Healthy Fat
Lunch - Healthy Grain, 5 oz Protein/Meat, Green Veggies
Afternoon Snack - Fruit / Healthy Fat
Dinner - Healthy Grain, 5 oz Protein/Meat, Green Veggies

Plus a variety of supplements, this is where it changes.  The 24 day challenge is kind of cool how they package the supplements, but during the 2nd part there are a lot of them.  You have 4 baggies.  1 - 30 minutes before breakfast, 1 - 30 minutes before lunch, and 2 packages to take with lunch.  Then there is also the evening 2 pills and the Carb Ease pills that I take once a day usually.  Each baggie has pill counts ranging from 1-5 pills.  I will try to remember to take a picture tomorrow.

To be honest I have not actually looked at ingredients of the pills or researched what they actually are.  I know shame on me, I should know what I'm putting in my body but I got so many good recs that I just didn't care to take the time.  Depending on what kind of progress I make during this challenge I will probably do some more research and see if I can find supplements that match the Advocare ones for cheaper.  We'll see though.

So days 11-13 I was actually on travel for work.  It was a lot harder to stay with my diet (not necessarily the right foods, but the right schedule).  the first day I spent all of the morning in the airport, on the plane, driving to my destination (1 hour once I got there).  Here are some things I did to try and be more successful while in route and on my trip:

Pack an EMPTY aluminum water bottle for the airport.  You can bring an empty bottle past security with your carry ons, you CAN NOT bring a full bottle, even a sealed water bottle.  Once you pass security you can fill up your bottle at any of the restaurants.  Ask with a smile!

Pack fruits like Apples / Bananas / Peaches and Snacks like Raw Almonds.  Snacks for the plane so you aren't tempted to eat the free salted peanuts or cookies.

At your hotel, snag fruit from your morning continental breakfast for daytime snacks.  They are free, take advantage.  It was SUPER hard for me to pass up the HOT continental breakfast our hotel offered but I did and just had my Meal Replacement Shake, luckily the Advocare Chocolate Shakes are DELICIOUS!

Day 7-10 | 24 day Challenge

Well we had a long weekend and I forgot to post, but as a quick wrap up I've done quite well.  I did 'cheat' a little bit here and there, had a little chocolate day 7 or 8, can't remember, and I also had a cheese.   Other than that doing pretty well.  I did an official weekly weigh in on Friday (day 9 of the cleanse, day 14 of the dietbet) and also took my measurements, noteworthy was I went down 2.6 lbs over the course of the week (friday to friday), and my hips lost 1.5 inches, also lost 0.5 inches on my waist.

Today is the last day of the cleanse portion and tomorrow I move into the rest of the 24 day challenge the "max" portion.  I hear this is where you really lose the weight so I'm pretty excited about that!  To lose 2.6 lbs on just the cleanse portion, it would be awesome if I could lose 5 or so pounds over the course of the next 14 days.  For my dietbet, I'm right where I should be at 2.5% body weight loss, I really only have 2 or so more pounds to lose in the next 2 weeks.

I'm leaving for a work trip tomorrow, it will be a little tougher sticking to eating healthy while on the road but I think I can do it.  But it does mean I won't be blogging day 11-14.  I'll try to catch back up when I'm back in town.

Day 6 | 24 Day Challenge

Woke up 5:45 showered and took my morning pills at 6:15.

6:45 - Meal Replacement Shake

9:30 - Apple with PB

OH and I made this crunchy snack for my desk a few evenings ago that I forgot to post about.  Chickpeas roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes with garlic and seasonings on it.  they are a little dry but sastify the crunchy snacky cravings here and there.  I'm keeping at my desk to crunch on throughout the day as needed.

10:30 - Brisk 2.5 mile walk at a 15:30 min/mile pace.

11:30 - Lunch:  Salad Greens with Carrots, Cucumber and Shredded chicken (no dressing no cheese) + Quinoa

2:00 - Snack - hard boiled egg and Peach

Day 5 | 24 Day Challenge

I'm so proud to make it another day.  I'm also kinda grumpy.

5:45: Woke up and Showered.
6:15: Took morning pills
6:50: Meal Replacement Shake
9:30: Apple (I was in a meeting or else I'd have eaten PB with it)
12:30:  Salad from Lenny's - no cheese, no dressing.
2:30:  Peach and Egg
5:30:  Today is TBall day so I quickly rushed home to make something for the kids and avoid getting drive thru.  Ended up making some Whole Wheat Pancakes.  So I had 2 myself and 'cheated' a bit, but still not bad.  Used half of the called for sugar, and yes there was dairy involved.  I topped mine with some organic homemade (by my boss) real maple syrup so at least the 'sweet' was a healthier one.
Finished all my pills and stuff for the day and had a lot of water throughout.

Didn't have time to exercise at work today, had a 4 hour morning meeting and lots of work to catch up on in the afternoon.  Will make up for it hopefully though!

Day 4 | 24 Day Challenge

One great thing about this challenge, is it really encourages me to pack my lunch at night.  Here's what was packed for today (not pictured is my healthy carb, Quinoa, I've never tried it before and not sure I'm gonna like it).

5:50:  Probiotic Restore --- YEAH for a reprieve from the Fiber Drink, I don't have to endure that until Day 7.

6:45:  Meal Replacement Shake

9:15:  Morning Snack - I had frozen Grapes at work so I'm eating those and maybe 1 egg.

10:30:  Exercise:  Couch to 5K - Week 5 day 1:  Completed 2.5 miles in 33 minutes with fastest pace at 10:30 min/mil

11:00:  Spark Drink

11:30:  Lunch - Salad (no dressing) with Carrots and Cucumbers topped with shredded chicken + 1/2 cup of Quinoa and roasted almonds.

2:30:  Snack - Apple and PB

So here's where it gets a little rough, I had planned a dinner of shredded chicken with taco seasoning in the crock pot so I could have a little something different.  Have lots of green veggies and brown rice, the kids could make it into a taco or something.  Well I got home and it was burned to a crisp.  apparently I didn't put enough water in the crockpot.  UGH!

So at 6pm I finally ate some Quinoa, Steamed Green Beans, and an Egg.  I don't think I hate enough food, but I was upset, we didn't even have any beans that I could have quickly made up or anything and all our other meat was frozen.  Worst part is I had to order pizza for the rest of the family.  Day 4 is rough cause you just start getting mad that you can't eat what you want to eat.  All I really wanted was a slice of cheese and a piece of chocolate.

I had the rest of my pills and stuff and made it through the night.